


All Change

by Tiger_Tiger_Burning_Bright



Category: Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood & Jace Wayland Friendship, Alec Lightwood POV, Comedy, Friendship, Gen, Humour, I'll try and keep this light though xox, Identity Swap, Light angst is possible, Magic, Male Bonding, Parabatai, Silly, jace's pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-06-03 11:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6608236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_Tiger_Burning_Bright/pseuds/Tiger_Tiger_Burning_Bright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a routine mission for Alec Lightwood and Jace Wayland has some, well, interesting consequences the gang needs to get involved to sort it out without the Clave finding out.</p><p>A bit of shadow hunter silliness</p><p>Initially just Jace and Alec but the others will be popping up in later chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boys Will Be Boys

**Author's Note:**

> So I go a bit stuck on a series I was writing and decided to take a break with just some pure silliness.
> 
> Hope you enjoy xox

The last few months had been difficult to say the least. Alec knew he should be relieved that he had his parabatai back and apparently fully recovered from Valentine’s influence but still there seemed a distance between them. Alec knew that, in part, it was his fault, after all he had strained their link trying to find Jace and was trying his best to fix it, he just didn't know how. Things had changed almost irrevocably and despite things appearing normal Alec knew in his heart of hearts there was a distance between the pair of them that left a small uncomfortable hollow feeling in Alec’s gut.

Ordinarily Jace would be the first person talk to if he was having problems but obviously that wasn't an option. Magnus had, as ever, been a pillar of support, assuring Alec that things would work out in the end but, for once, Alec wasn't so sure. Maybe too much had changed, maybe Alec would need to learn to adapt to this new separation between him and his best friend.

Izzy, of course, had suggested a more pro-active approach. She was adamant that the key to rebuilding the broken relationship was to work together more. Parabatai were designed to fight together, she reasoned, so surely taking on missions together was the best way to rebuild the trust that seemed to be lacking between the pair. Which was why, Alec mused to himself, he and Jace had found themselves fighting a pack of demons in an old antiquities store. _Great_ _idea_ Izzy thought exasperatedly as he notched another arrow into his bow swiftly taking out the ravener demon that was about to attack Jace whist he was occupied with yet another Eidolon.

Jace swooped in a dramatic pirouette neatly slicing the eidolon clean in half  
“Cheers buddy..” He winked, grinning as he caught Alec's eye..

 _Ok so maybe not such a bad idea Iz_ Alec grudgingly admitted to himself as he frantically fired arrow after arrow into the melee, demon after demon exploding into nothing. It took seconds for Jace to finish off the last demon and soon he turned towards Alec wiping ichor off his face..

“Now _that_ was fun…” He was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

“You have a weird idea of fun Jace..”

“Ah c’mon it was though..”

Alec grinned sheepishly “yeah I s’pose …. If you like that kind of thing…”

For a moment it felt almost like before but it wasn't long before Alec was feeling awkward again. Damn it..Alec really wished he was better with words…

“So…..I guess we should be heading back then…..” Alec shuffled his feet nervously only looking up when he heard a strange clinking.

Jace had wandered off into the shop randomly picking up items from the overstocked shelves, which, Alec thought to himself was a typical Jace thing to do…  
“Jace…what the hell…”

“Well you know it is Clary’s birthday soon and she loves all this old stuff….”

“And nothing says I love you like an ichor covered bit of junk….”

“Exactly”

Clary and Jace had been practically inseparable since Jace’s return and the discovery that they were not, in fact, related at all. Alec was incredibly relieved that she’d been there for his friend and could see that her influence had done more to bring Jace back from the edge than anyone. Despite his early misgivings (to put it mildly) Clary had become, well, a friend, Alec conceded and he was glad she was there for his parabatai.

“Ok fine..what sort of thing d’you think she’d like”

Alec knew that once Jace had set his mind to something no one, with the possible exception of Clary, could dissuade him so he figured he may as well try and help speed up the process..

“Oh I don't know…she’s artistic right? Maybe some sort of statue or something….”

“Fine…”

The shop itself was dark and dingy, not helped by the fact that Jace had apparently destroyed the only strip light with an overenthusiastic swing of his seraph blade. Its many shelves were densely packed with what could only be described as bric a brac much of which was covered with dust, whilst the large central space was filled with equally packed row upon row of floor to ceiling glass display cabinets whose neon lighting was filling the room with a low bluish light.This, thought Alec was going to take longer than he had hoped.

The next half an hour was filled with seemingly endless amount of Alec picking up objects to suggest to Jace which Jace promptly rejected. Alec was becoming more and more exasperated.

“Dude…there’s a trapdoor down here..” Jace exclaimed his blonde head emerging from below the counter.

Of course there is thought Alec rolling his eyes

“I bet that's where they keep all the good stuff” Jace continued excitedly..

“Jace…..seriously…this is just a load of old mundane tat…”

“Alec you give in way too easily…… They must have some good stuff… I mean why else would there be a hoard of demons here….. Unless I missed the memo about demons developing a love of antiquing …”

Alec stifled a laugh, ok fine maybe he was enjoying himself a little and to be fair he was feeling easier around Jace than he had in a while and that was kinda the point..

“Fine” he huffed dutifully walking towards Jace.

Jace had rolled back tatty old rug behind the counter and wrenched open the trapdoor by the time he reached him exposing a set of rickety looking stairs leading down into the darkness of the cellar. Alec, who had been around magic rather a lot in recent months, instantly recognised the slightly prickly sensation he could feel all over and was starting to feel like this was a very bad idea but before he had time to say anything Jace was practically at the bottom of the staircase.  
There was a small clicking sound as Jace found the light switch closely followed by the sound of Jace shouting up to him.  
“Whoa man, we’ve hit the mother load… Dude you have to see all this..”

 _By the Angel, this man’ll be the death of me_ Alec thought descending the creaking stairs to reach his friend.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Alec could see what Jace had been talking about, the cellar, though small and low ceilinged, had all the appearance of a warlock’s, well, workshop he guessed. The side walls were lined with apothecary cabinets, their draws neatly labelled in many languages, only some of which Alec could read, odd shaped jars and bottles jostling for space on the top of them. In the centre there was a long wooden table heavily laden with books with papers scattered haphazardly along its length. At the end sat a rusty cauldron with piles of utensils stacked in side. That, however wasn't what Jace was currently striding towards with a triumphant smirk on his face.The far wall was covered with multiple shelves filled with statuettes and talismans glittering enticingly and it was this, that had got his friend’s wrapt attention.

“Dude, there's bound to be something here…”

“Jace, seriously man, slow down, there may be traps….”

Alec knew well enough that magical items needed to be treated with a healthy respect. Having recently moved in with Magnus, much to his parents obvious disgust, he had been subjected to hours of the warlock’s detailed instructions of what was safe to touch and what to avoid in the study. Having no wish to be accidentally turned into a toad or whatever Alec had decided to give Magnus’ work space a wide berth from then onwards.

Jace, unsurprisingly, had no such worries as he eagerly reached forward to grab a bronze statue.

“See… It’s fine …. This is perfect… Clary's gonna love this…” Jace was grinning his lopsided grin and brandishing his find in the air like a trophy.

“Great…so let's go then” Alec was relieved, reaching forward to grab Jace’s arm before his friend changed his mind again.  
Alec felt a surge of magic coursing up his arm and the next thing he knew he was thrown backwards through the air.  
Oh shit was all had time to think before hitting the wall with a sickening thump and being engulfed by blackness..

Alec blinked his eyes open painfully his vision slowly coming into focus on the beams on the ceiling above him. It took him a few seconds to processes before he remembered where he was. Shit he thought sitting up so quickly it made his head spin as the realisation hit him. How long had he been out for he wondered roughly rubbing his eyes swallowing down the nausea in his gut…

“Jace… You ok..?” He called out… Except wait, no, he didn't sound like himself…. Instinctively he ran his fingers through his hair which suddenly felt very different too, longer and glossier than he was used to and far too short on the sides. Glancing down he saw the small statuette lying by his leg. It seemed to be smirking at him.

 _No no no no_ he thought frantically as he turned to scan the room seeing exactly what he was dreading. In the corner he saw a horror struck expression on his own face looking back at him.

“Oh shit… This cannot be good” Jace gasped..

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. The old switcheroo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Jace come to terms with their new situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the silliness continue... More characters next episode I promise xx

“So let me get this straight….I’m you and you're me ..” Jace sounded as shocked as Alec felt.

“I.. I think so.. “

“Like some sort of body swap thing…. Like that film freaky Friday …..”

“ _Seriously_..”

“Clary loves that film…she says it's a classic Lindsey Lohan, you know before she went all DUI and all that, although I know her favourite is mean girls which to be fair is a modern classic….”

“Jace….Shut the hell up…” Alec's head was thumping (or was that Jace’s head was thumping, he really wasn't at all sure)

“Sorry..”

Alec stared down at his hands trying to wrap his head around what was going on, not that it was really helping, the sight of his long archer’s fingers being replaced with Jace's shorter stockier hands was disturbing to say the least.

There was a muffled thump closely followed by the sound of Jace cursing loudly. Jace being Jace had jumped to his feet rapidly, clearly forgetting that Alec was significantly taller than him, promptly hitting his head on the low ceiling beams.

“Jeez, Alec why d'you have to be so goddam tall…..that really hurt” Jace was rubbing his head theatrically.

“Jeez Jace why don't you just stop and think for once in your goddam life….”

Jace paused and looked at Alec through narrowed eyelids…

“What exactly do you mean by that…”

“Oh I don't know …. Maybe if you’d listened to me we wouldn't be in this mess now” Alec had got to his feet and was staring angrily across the room.

“Oh so this is all my fault then….”

“Duh yes of course it bloody is… I’m the amazing Jace Wayland I don't need to listen to anyone's advice….What does Alec know about magical items anyway…no I’ll just go ploughing in as usual….”

“Oh right…. boyfriend’s a warlock so now you know everything about magic..”

“Well clearly I know more than you…” Alec angrily indicating to the body he now inhabited

“Fine ….look lets just grab the statue and swap back..” Jace made a move to grab the statue which was still lying on the floor next to Alec.

“Jace, for angels sake, just STOP. The last time we touched that thing together we were both knocked unconscious for god knows how long…. Funnily enough being unconscious in a warlock den for an unknown amount of time is not particularly high up on my list of things to do right now….seriously just think for once in your life ….why do you always do this…just go rushing in headlong without any consideration of the consequences” Alec was ranting, he knew that. He ran his fingers through his hair, the gesture which normally calmed him down now just felt disturbingly wrong.  
“Seriously just bloody stop for a second… I need to think and you jabbering on is really not helping...Right now I'm too angry to deal with your ridiculous ideas…. I have to concentrate on cleaning up one of your messes again and to say it's wearing a bit thin is the understatement of the….”

The sound of laughter stopped Alec dead in his tracks…Jace was laughing louder now, long hiccuping laughs..

“This is not funny Jace.” Alec thundered.

“I know… I know…” Jace was laughing so hard now he was gasping for breath “it's just…..   
You…. Pacing….. That look …on …your..face…but… My…face….it’s ….just…..too….funny…. I… I … Can't ….” Jace was bending over now hands braced on his thighs literally shaking with laughter.

“Jace, this is so inappropriate …” Alec continued

He was met with a howl of laughter…

“Stop.. It… Man… You're …. Killing….me…” Jace choked out.

Alec tried to maintain his anger, he really did. He had every right to be angry. Ok so the sight of his own body shaking with laughter was, well ridiculous and to be fair the whole situation was like something out of a bad comedy and….

_Damn you Jace Wayland_ he thought as he found himself starting to laugh as well. The two of them were giggling like teenagers, Alec now laughing so hard he had to put his hand on the other man's shoulder just to steady himself.

Fighting back the laughter Jace looked up…

“Hey at least life's never dull with me around…”

“Dull…would be ….nice…. Every now….and again….” Alec was struggling to speak

“Never gonna happen buddy”

Alec took a long, deep breath, steadying himself slightly…  
“We really should get outta here…”

Jace straightened slightly, he was still grinning like a maniac..

“Yeah.. I know…ok so what now….?”

Alec was starting to regain control now.

“Ok..”he started shakily “so I guess we just grab that thing” he pointed at the statue   
“And.. We'd probably best take all these books and papers as well. I'm thinking there may be some clue as to what kind of spell this was… Might help reverse it..”

Now he had a plan he felt much calmer, as if taking charge was bringing him closer to getting them both out of this mess.

“Let me guess, pack it all up and take it to Magnus..” Jace rolled his eyes..

“Well, it's the obvious thing right so why the eye roll..”

“I know, it's just…that warlock had better not try and kiss me or anything…. I mean ..urghh…”

Jace caught the short look of hurt in Alec's eye…

“No man, I don't mean that way… It's just….ok so imagine Clary throwing herself at you …”

Alec shuddered

“Exactly….not that she would of course…she'd always recognise me…”

“Really..?”

“Dude, she took down an Eidolon who looked just like me and we weren't even together then..”

“Fair point …although you sure it wasn't just that she’d finally had it with your crap jokes…”

“Harsh…”Jace pouted

“Anyway, don't worry Magnus’ll recognise magic when he sees it..”

“He better” Jace muttered.

  
It didn't take long to collect everything they needed. Jace had run and grabbed some bags from behind the counter and they'd shoved the many books and papers roughly into them. All that was left was the statue, still lying on the floor where it had been dropped. It looked like it was taunting them.

Jace prodded at it suspiciously with his boot. Neither of them were particularly keen to touch it again.

Finally Alec sighed and wrapping his hand with a plastic bag he picked it up carefully pulling the bag up so as not to touch the thing.

Grabbing their bags the two of them practically sprinted up the stairs, eager to be out of there. Alec noted that Jace was taking great care to duck his head. so he was able to learn after all Alec smiled to himself.

“Time to face the world” Jace muttered dramatically opening the front door of the shop for Alec before following through behind him.

The bell on the door behind them rang out as they walked away.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed .... Anything you want to see I'll see what I can do xxx


	3. Warlocks Are Tricky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Magnus finds out. 
> 
> Can the High of Warlock of Brooklyn help sort things out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so here goes chapter 3 ... Sorry for the delay work got in the way :-(

Alec pushed the buzzer. It had been Jace's suggestion that perhaps they had better give Magnus at least some warning and Alec had grudgingly agreed that this was probably a good idea.

“Who dares disturb the high warlock of Brooklyn …” The warlock's voice came crackling over the intercom.

“Magnus ….. We're just heading up …I …ummm…..well…there's been…well…”

“Jace ….. I thought you were with Alec…wait is Alec ok…”

“I'm fine..”

“I know you're fine blondie, I was asking about my boyfriend.”

“Look we’re both fine… Sort of...”

“Well this is going well..” Jace muttered behind him.

“Jace..shut up…” Alec glared at him..

“Wait.. Is that Alexander…”

“Kind of… Look we’re coming up… It's well… complicated”

Before the warlock had chance to answer Alec was grabbing his keys off Jace and striding through the door and racing up the stairs. It was only when they were nearly at the loft that Alec realised that Jace was hanging back.

“Jace..by the Angel …will you hurry up..”

“Yeah..well.. Maybe you should go up first..you know explain stuff..”

“Seriously…”

“Well …”

“I am not doing this on my own…you got us into this mess.. You're damn well gonna face this with me..”

“I know.. I'm sorry alright … I just….”

They were still bickering as they rounded the stairwell to the final flight of stairs before the loft, only to be greeted by a very glittery and equally angry looking warlock standing in the doorway.

“Is someone going to explain to me exactly what is going on here” Magnus was glaring at them arms folded firmly.

Jace was still a little way behind Alec and seemed to have found something fascinating on the floor to stare at whilst he shuffled his feet anxiously. Alec found himself staring at his boyfriend without the faintest idea what to say …

“Alexander…?” Magnus was looking across at Jace now, the initial anger fading into a look of more confusion and worry.

“Um…over here….” Alec smiled weakly.

Magnus’ head snapped round a look of shock and confusion playing across his face. As he stepped forward he looked at Alec through narrowed eyes as if to make sense of everything.   
He looked long and hard at Alec examining him closely and soon Alec saw the realisation dawning on him.

Magnus’ eyes were still fixed on Alec as he started to speak.

“I think perhaps you two had better come inside”

  
He turned his head to look over Alec’s shoulder before aiming a hard look at Jace

  
“And you Jace Wayland can explain what you have done to my boyfriend”

With that the warlock turned on his heel and stormed into the loft leaving Alec and Jace to follow him.

* * *

 

Under any other circumstances Alec would have found it funny watching his parabatai gabbling nervously trying to explain their predicament with Magnus looking at him with his best schoolteacher stare going on. It was however, beyond surreal to see your own body talking and moving and Alec was finding it very difficult to not get distracted with it. As Jace reached the end of the story Alec was feeling increasingly desperate for this whole nightmare to be over.

“So you see it was just a genuine accident…I mean how was I to know this would happen…but it's fine right we just grab the statue and swap back.. No harm no foul…”

Jace grabbed the statue from the bag and held it aloft.

“Alec grab my arm” he hissed.

Alec drew in a deep breath. _Here we go again_  he thought as he reached to grab Jace.

He closed his eyes and tried to brace himself as his fingers connected, ready to be thrown across the room.

Except nothing happened.

Cautiously Alec opened his eyes and caught the confused look on his own face looking back him.

_Damn it_

“Ok so … Um… Maybe if we swap places… I mean I was holding it so….you know maybe we need, well my body to you know …” Jace was shoving the statue roughly into Alec’s hand. Alec could hear an edge of desperation in his voice.

Alec dutifully changed places although he knew it was clutching at straws..unsurprisingly again nothing happened.

_Of course it couldn't be that simple_ he groaned inwardly his shoulders slumping. Alec flopped down on the sofa practically throwing the statue on to the coffee table. He was glaring at Jace, who to be fair had the good sense to look decidedly uncomfortable

“Tell me you can fix this Mags…”Alec sounded utterly defeated.

Distractedly Magnus reached across to touch his boyfriend’s arm

“Fortunately for you my love you are dating the high warlock of Brooklyn …” He turned to face Alec “to be fair I have great motivation…. This is too weird even for me…”

“Like you wouldn't want to hit that ..” Jace muttered suddenly getting very flustered when he realised what he'd said “oh god …. Please don't even think…. “

“I think that your body is safe for now, I realise that this may shake your world view but not everyone thinks you are wildly attractive blondie. Although to be fair if Alexander stays in there much longer I may have to adapt…”

Alec suspected that Magnus was perhaps enjoying playing with Jace and this was only confirmed by the small wink that the warlock aimed in his direction.

“Ok so fascinating as this conversation is maybe we should focus on the task in hand” Alec grabbed hold of the bags of papers “surely there must be something in all this that can help”

Alec quickly spread all the papers on the coffee table, sadly none of them had “how to get your body back” written on them although seeing as lot of them were written in demon languages maybe they did.

Magnus conjured up some coffee and the two of them started to plough through the mountain of paperwork. Jace collapsed down on the sofa next to Alec and half heartedly started to help although Jace being Jace he was soon huffing disconsolately.

“By the Angel, are all warlocks this bad at keeping notes… I mean there's a recipe for mac’n’cheese scrawled on this one.. This is hopeless”

“There has to be something…” There was a slight tinge of desperation to Alec’s voice.

“Dude, I don't even know what I'm looking for … Half of this I can't even read…”

“Maybe if you'd actually listened in demon studies…”

“Well yeah, but you don't get a body like this… Um I mean like that ….from reading old books…”

Jace untangled his legs from the sofa and stood up..

“maybe there's something in the institute library… I should go check. I'm getting precisely nowhere here..”

“Um Jace…”

“Look I'm tired … Clary’s probably worried…..”

Jace was striding over to the door now and grabbing his coat

“I think what my boyfriend is trying to say is that, whilst it may of escaped your notice, Alec no longer lives in the institute…”

Jace froze and turned slowly, his face a picture of dismay.

“You mean…”

“Sadly it would appear I have a new roommate until we can sort this mess out…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed ... Would love to hear what you think x


	4. Not a glamorous situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jace thinks he might have found something to help

The look on Jace’s face seemed pretty apt to Alec, yep his own face looked as horror struck as he felt. He had assumed that they would go back to the loft, Magnus would fix things and that this whole sorry mess would be all over. It was starting to dawn on him how hopelessly optimistic that had been and he really really didn't want to go back to the institute.

“You mean…. I have to stay here… “

“Well to be fair I'm not a huge fan of the idea either but perhaps it would be better to keep this quiet until I can sort things out”

Neither Magnus or Jace sounded particularly enamoured of the new arrangement, Alec was still to shocked to say anything.

Jace took a deep breath

“Look, I can just go back, you know pretend you and Alec have had a fight or something… It'll be fine..”

“You will do no such thing” Alec spat out

“I will not have my mother thinking for one second that Magnus and I are splitting up. Hell she'd probably throw a party”

“But she's in Idris…”

“Like she wouldn't find out .. I said no and I meant it. If that means I need to stay in the institute until this is sorted then that's what I'll have to do”

“Ok…. So what if we just explain the situation… You know say it's all in hand.. Just temporary ..” Jace was sounding increasingly desperate

“Oh I can see that would go down so well..” Magnus rolled his eyes “oh dear I seemed to have swapped bodies with my parabatai but don't worry Alec's boyfriend, you know the one the warlock you can't stand and who has defiled your darling son, has it all in hand. You'd be both marched down to the city of bones and have the silent brothers poking around your heads before you finished speaking.”

“Magnus has a point…”

“Yeah.. Ok… Point taken…”

Suddenly Jace’s face lit up.

“I've got it. Damn why didn't I think of this earlier…It’s obvious…glamour rune. We glamour ourself to look like each other..”

“That's actually not a bad idea” Alec was silently cursing himself that he hadn't thought of it sooner

“Well at least I picked up something useful from spending time with my not-dad definitely-not-dearest” Jace was grinning now the relief palpable.

Jace grabbed the stele in Alec’s pocket and started to draw the complicated rune on his forearm.

“There … Done” he finished the design with a flourish..

“Umm Jace are you sure you got the rune right…”

“Yes…”

“Then why is nothing happening…”

“You have got to be kidding me….”

Magnus had stood up and moved over to Jace, blue sparks flowed from his fingers as he waved them around, his eyes closed in concentration.

“Very clever… I'm impressed….”

“What..?”

“It would appear that the spell includes a glamour blocking component. The warlock who created this really thought of everything..”

“So you mean we’re stuck like this until we find an antidote..?”

Alec already knew the answer before he asked the question but he was really hoped he was wrong.

“I'm afraid so..”

_Damn it_

“So I guess it's back to the drawing board..”

The sound of music bursting forth from Alec's pocket made him jump. Hastily he pulled out Jace's phone..

“Sexy Bitch… Really Jace?”

“Oh shit … Clary..”

“Funnily enough I guessed that..”

“It seemed like the right ring tone…”

Alec glanced down at the screen

“Really … That’s the photo you chose for her….god I need to wash my eyeballs with bleach…”

“It's not that bad..”

Magnus grabbed the phone and answered

“Hi biscuit… It's Magnus” he covered the speaker with his hand

“Really can you two just quit squabbling for two seconds…”

“Clary, calm down… No no they're both here…. Yes in the loft… Yes I know it's late there's been a bit of a situation… No they're sort of fine… I am not being cryptic…look it's hard to explain… Clary, please….I know, I know…. Ok fine… I'll make a portal it'll be faster… Yes yes two seconds …. Seriously Clary can you at least try and show a bit of patience …. Fine, ok …. Oh and Clary you probably better grab Isabelle…. Yes I know it's late… Ok 5 minutes, text me when you've got her..”

Magnus hung up.

“Seriously Clary _and_ Isabelle… Are you sure that's a good idea…”

Jace was starting to look a little worried

“If you think for 5 seconds anyone could have stopped your delightful girlfriend from storming round here then …”

“Fair point..”

“In any case I think we need all the help we can at the moment..”

“You could've at least explained stuff to her…” Alec could hear the anxiety in Jace’s voice

“This may have escaped your notice but I could hardly get a word in edge ways….”

“Oh Clary would recognise me anywhere… Isn't that what you reckon..” Alec wondered if he was enjoying Jace's discomfort a little too much

“Well … Yes… But … Um…”

Again it was up to Magnus to take control..  
“Fine, as soon as she texts I'll make a portal and I'll go through and explain things first… Better plan?”

“I s'pose” Jace pouted huffily

“Fine then that's sorted… at this rate I'm going to be the first immortal to die from a stoke..”

The next few minutes were spent with the three of them halfheartedly sifting through papers. Jace was looking increasingly edgy and when the text finally came through he practically jumped out of his skin.

“Nervous much..?” Alec quirked his eyebrow at his friend

“No… Yes… Oh god she's gonna kill me…” Jace moaned dramatically

“Quite possibly… Although one would hope she waits until your out of my boyfriend’s wonderful body…”

“Not helping”

“Wasn't meant to…”

“Fine… Let's just get this over with..”

Magnus shrugged theatrically and stood up to make a portal in his normal dramatic style..

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, thanks for reading... Anything you want to see feel free to prompt and I'll see what I can do
> 
> Hugs xx


	5. Here come the girls.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clary and Isabelle find out what's going on.

The portal shimmered into life and Magnus stepped forward but before he had a chance to step through he was barrelled out of the way.

Clary raced through and in what felt like seconds had physically thrown herself on Alec and was kissing him frantically catching him completely off guard. It was rather like being caught in a tornado Alec thought as he grabbed the redhead’s arms and firmly pushed her away.

Clary looked at him, her face a picture of hurt and confusion.

“Jace, are you OK? I was so worried..your were supposed to be back hours ago and I texted and texted and you didn't answer..”

She tried to lean in again but Alec kept her firmly at arms length.

“So Clary would recognise me anywhere, eh Blondie ?” Magnus sneered just as Isabelle stepped through the portal.

Jace just shrugged, looking decidedly disappointed.

Clary narrowed her eyes and looked at Alec. He could see the look on her face as the realisation started to dawn.

Izzy moved towards Magnus..

“Um what exactly is going on here ?” Even though she sounded concerned there was a touch of amusement in her voice.

“Wait for it darling.. This should be fun..” Magnus muttered holding a finger up to quieten her.

Clary, who was still sitting on Alec's lap, peered intently into his face, her expression rapidly changing and colour rising to her cheeks.

Izzy raised an eyebrow and looked at Magnus who didn't say a word just held up his hand and counted down on his fingers.

Suddenly Clary was jumping off Alec like a scalded cat.

“You're …. You're not Jace…” She exclaimed

“And there it is..” Magnus muttered waving his hand dramatically towards Clary.

“What the hell…?” Izzy was starting to move forward.

Magnus just reached out and held her back gently.

“Shh let's see how long it takes our little biscuit to work it out eh ?” He whispered mischievously

Alec glanced up to give the warlock a withering look. Jace who was sat next to his parabatai looked up at his girlfriend with an expectant expression.

“Wait.. What is going on here..” Clary's face was now flushed almost the same colour as her hair. He eyes flicked between the two men sat on the sofa for a few seconds before leaning in a little her eyes widening in shock.

“Jace….?” Her voice was unsure as she looked at him..

Jace gave her a lopsided smile.

“I can explain..” He was holding his hands up as if to placate her.

Izzy leaned toward Magnus.  
“So let me get this straight, Jace is Alec and Alec is Jace …right?” She whispered to the warlock who replied by nodding.  
“Seriously.. How..?”  
Magnus nodded towards a rather uncomfortable Jace just as Isabelle burst into laughter.

Alec threw a stern look at his sister. “Not funny Iz”

“Oh I beg to differ big brother..” Izzy was shaking with laughter as she reached for her phone.

Jace looked up

“Izzy.. What are you doing..?” The anxiety was clear in his voice

“Texting Simon, obviously..” She rolled her eyes.

Alec stood up to try and stop her..

“Seriously Iz, we need to keep this quiet until we sort things out…” he reached to grab the phone from her just as she pushed the send button and danced out the way.

“Oops too late .. Sent” she grinned “hey don't worry I hardly think the Clave would listen to a vampire even if he did say something, which he wouldn't. In any case this is too good to not share..”

“Oh that's just great … What if he tells Raphael? Or did you not consider that” Alec pouted

Izzy just quirked an eyebrow and shrugged

“Like I said too good to not share..”  
Alec stared hard at his sister as she grinned back at him

Magnus’ phone buzzed.

“Yep, he told Raphael..” The warlock muttered passing his phone across to his boyfriend.

Raphael’s text was short and to the point

_Hahahahahahahahahahahaha_ – **Raphael**

“Well this is just great” Alec muttered.

Clary finally seemed to have regained the power of speech.

“Jace what is going on…?” She pleaded.

Everyone turned expectantly towards Jace, who looked a little like a rabbit in the headlights. He looked towards Alec.

“Help me out here buddy...” He pleaded

“Oh no.. Your fault, you explain..” Alec crossed his arms firmly

“Thank you so much” Jace muttered before continuing “Fine, so the mission didn't go exactly as planned..”

“Understatement of the year” Alec huffed

“Helpful Alec, very helpful..” Jace glanced across rolling his eyes, Alec responded by shrugging his shoulders.

“Wait, what kind of demon could do this to you.. ?” Clary was glancing between the pair of them anxiously

“Not a demon..” Magnus murmured, he was leaning up against a pillar now and seemed to be somewhat enjoying watching Jace struggling to explain.

“Look can everyone just shut up for second …” Jace sounded petulant.

Magnus just waved him on with a flick of his wrist.

* * *

Less than 5 minutes later Jace was finishing up explaining the events of the evening.

“So you see how was I supposed to know it was an enchanted statue..”

“Well the fact that it was in a warlock den may have been a hint..” Alec grumbled under his breath causing Jace to throw a dagger filled look at him.  
“Look I just wanted to get something nice for Clary so….” Jace added grumpily

Clary leaned forward and picked up the offending statue looking at it properly for the first time. The statue was of a man in bronze armour with a flowing green cape, on his head was a helmet with long curling horns and he was holding a long magical looking staff in one hand, everything done in immaculate detail. Clary gasped delightedly.

“By the Angel it's Loki …. Jace it's beautiful…”

Jace looked at Alec triumphantly

“See I told you she’d love it..”

“Oh fantastic, I'm so glad. Makes this all worthwhile then doesn't it..” Alec replied sarcastically.

“Loki, the trickster, how apt..” Magnus rolled his eyes dramatically eliciting another round of giggles from Isabelle.

“Well fun though this is, looking at statues doesn't get us any closer to solving this predicament. So maybe, and this is just a suggestion, we could spend less time admiring the workmanship and more time, oh I don't know, looking through these papers to find an antidote…” Magnus added.

“Fine, I was just saying.” Clary replied haughtily grabbing a handful of note books.

Just as everyone was settling down to start the search the intercom burst into life.

“By Lilith what now?” Magnus was grumbling as he moved towards the door “I swear I’ve had less exciting parties than this…”

“No you haven't” Izzy grinned.

“Very true darling, my parties are epic” the warlock winked back.

Magnus pushed the intercom button when sighing dramatically.

**“Who dares disturb the High Warlock of Brooklyn"**

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so hope you enjoyed .. Am trying to keep to weekly updates but work has been a bit crazy...
> 
> Oh by the way if anyone has a preference between Saphael and Sizzy let me know... Could go either way at the moment and I doubt they'll be major players but still :-)


	6. The vampire has a point....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Simon helps out...

The intercom buzzed into life.

“Hey Magnus, thought you guys might need a hand..”

Simons voice was distorted by the speaker.

“Sherman, what exactly are you doing here. Isabelle only text you about 10 minutes ago..”

  
Great just what he needed a chatty vampire. Sighing dramatically Magnus pushed the door release button.

Simon sprinted through the door a few seconds later closely followed by a bored looking Raphael.

“You too ?..”

Raphael shrugged

Isabelle's whole face lit up at the sight of the younger vampire and was soon throwing herself into his arms.

“You came to help..” She grinned as Simon spun her around.

“Figured you might need it..”

Magnus raised a questioning eyebrow at Raphael.

“What? Being immortal gets boring.. I could do with some entertainment every now and again..” Raphael dead panned.

“So glad to oblige..” Alec muttered.

Simon extricated himself from Isabelle and looked long and hard at Alec..

“Wow, that's just too weird..” He gasped.

Isabelle giggled

Simon shook himself as if to clear his head before continuing.

“So where are you guys up to… Found a cure yet?”

“Not even close” Jace mumbled disconsolately.

“Bummer, so how's the practicing going..?” Simon was met with a sea of blank faces.

“By the Angel, what's the vampire talking about now?” Alec was not only tired but was getting increasingly ratty.

  
“Oh! Well good job I'm here” Simon smiled brightly “so it's 3am now.. That means 7 hours max for you two to be able to realistically pretend to be each other… So practicing ..”

Magnus had moved to the arm of the sofa next to Alec and had gently began to stroke his boyfriends shoulder sensing the frustration building in the other man.

“Listen Scott, they already look like each other…” He muttered.

“Well duh, but seriously it doesn't take a genius to spot there's something up with the pair of you.” Simon nodded meaningfully at the parabatai pair sat on the sofa.

Isabelle leant into him

“You know he has a point..” She added seriously.

Jace looked pointedly at Clary.

“Even the vampire spotted it..” He mumbled.

Clary flushed.

“Well forgive me for being so worried about you that I didn't have time to notice..” She huffed folding her arms defensively.

Alec rubbed his forehead roughly between his thumb and forefinger.

“We’re not really getting anywhere here are we? I mean honestly Magnus how likely are we to get things back to normal by tomorrow morning?” Clary snapped getting a rather hurt look from Jace.

“Ok, so that's not hugely likely..” Magnus conceded “sorry cupcake, but it's not..” He added seeing the desperate look Alec gave him.

“Honestly I don't see the problem. I mean we're parabatai. How hard can it be to pretend to be Alec….” Jace huffed.

The sound of Raphael laughing caught everyone's attention. He raised an eyebrow sardonically.

“Dios, you people. Look at yourself. When have you ever seen The blonde one sitting that far away from the redhead, the pair of them are practically surgically attached. As for Bane and the shadowhunter it’s practically obscene how they're always pawing at each other..You really think people won't notice.” Raphael rolled his eyes dramatically. “That's just the start… And if you think that’s all you have to worry about pfft”

The older vampire resumed his position leaning against a pillar to survey the scene, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.

“Well Magnus just needs to avoid the institute for a while and Clary and I will keep as far apart as possible…” Alec snapped.

“’Cos that wouldn't look suspicious at all…” Izzy muttered.

Alec shot his sister a dagger filled look.

“Fine, then Clary and I can pretend to have had a fight… It's not like it's a rare thing..”

“No way. If I have to stay here then I am not having everyone thinking Clary and I are breaking up..” Jace huffed.

“Seriously, just how long do you think we’ll be stuck like this…” Alec glared

Magnus gave a dramatic sigh.

“Much as it pains me to admit this, the vampires are right. I think on the whole, it would be better if I took these notes to Catarina and Tessa and see if we can work out a fix.”

Alec went to interrupt but Magnus continued

“Darling, I know you want to help, but really I think it's better you work on the Clave not finding out don't you?”

“Great! So that's the plan then.. Operation parabatai swap here we come” Isabelle beamed sounding way too happy for Alec’s liking.

“Operation parabatai swap? Really?” Alec mumbled

“Everything needs a code name big bro” Izzy winked only for Alec to respond with an eye roll.

“So let's start with body language..step one sitting” she clapped her hands together enthusiastically.

“What the hell Iz ..” Jace moaned

Ignoring him Izzy turned to Alec.

“So big bro, you're sitting all wrong. Jace would never sit like that he's the worst manspreader like, ever..”

“I do not manspread..” Jace crossed his arms sulkily only to be faced by a group of faces turning to look at him

“Dude, you totally do..” Simon smirked

Jace huffed indignantly

“Well, looks like you've got this under control.” Magnus grabbed his phone and started to rise only for Alec to grab his arm.

“Mags, where are you going.. You can't leave me with this” he nodded his head toward his sister.

“Darling.” The warlock touched his lips to Alec’s head “the sooner I contact Catarina and Tessa the sooner this..” He waved his arms around flamboyantly  
“gets sorted out. Although I suspect I'll be owing the pair of them some extraordinarily large favours for waking them at this ungodly hour..”

Alec nodded sadly. Magnus leaned down to kiss the younger man then hesitated and settled for a light peck on his nose instead.

“Still too weird” Alec muttered

“Still too weird…” Magnus agreed “I promise we’ll fix this”

Alec smiled weakly as the warlock moved off to make his phone calls.

“Ok, so boys we need to focus. We have a lot of work to do..” Izzy was using her best schoolmarm voice.

Jace glanced across at Alec.

“She's enjoying this way too much..”

“You've met Izzy right.?” He replied earning a knowing smile from his parabatai.

It was definitely going to be a long night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed.... Xox


	7. Where to now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alec returns to the institute and Jace stays on at the loft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, 
> 
> I am so sorry this has taken so long to update.... I'll be honest, I got a bit stuck so hopefully this chapter is OK.
> 
> I sort of want to explore Jace and Alec learning more about each other through being body swapped and maybe even finding out more about themselves so hopefully that comes across.
> 
> There are sort of mild spoilers about Jace's real identity but I've tried not to be too specific for non book readers. For those of you that haven't read the books just FYI Tessa who appears in this chapter is a half warlock/shadowhunter and is Jace's great,great,great grandmother. She was married to Will, a shadowhunter and they had two children. She is now with Jem, who was Will's parabatai, and who is still alive (although I won't say how).

Alec was physically shaking when they emerged through the portal into Clary’s room. Hours of practising hadn't helped in the slightest and he seriously doubted he and Jace could even hope to pull this off. Granted his confidence had been knocked by Raphael finding his attempts to copy Jace’s swagger hilarious. When the vampires had disappeared at about 4 am he was, well, to put in mildly, relieved.

Things hadn't really improved from there. Magnus had been holed up with Cat and Tessa and quite frankly there wasn't even the slightest sign that they were making any headway. Even Izzy had stopped finding the situation funny which was an incredibly bad sign.

Clary reached for his hand and Alec had to fight the urge to flinch slightly.

“Jace” Alec quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Look I'm going to have start calling you Jace or I'll end up slipping up” she shrugged.

Alec rolled his eyes and slumped down on the bed head in his hands. Clary sat down next to him and put a reassuring arm round his shoulder which just felt weird.

“Seriously Jace.. It's going to be OK. Magnus will find a solution. You know that right.”

Alec nodded, he really wished he felt reassured, he really really didn't. To be honest thinking about Magnus just felt strange. When they'd left the loft Magnus had hugged him goodbye and it had felt so odd, he was so used to being taller than his boyfriend and now they were the same height practically which had made things feel awkward at best. How he was supposed to carry off Jace’s confidence when literally everything about this body felt wrong.

“Ok, well I don't know about you.. But I need to get some sleep before I deal with any of this” clary waved her arms around as she stood up and moved towards the bathroom.

“Oh yeah, I s'pose… Well I should go then..” Alec sounded exhausted.

“Umm…” Clary sounded hesitant “when exactly in the last 6 months have you known Jace and I to sleep apart?”

“You have got to be kidding me” Alec slumped down again

“I'm not that bad a roommate..” Clary grinned

“No..I didn't..” Alec stuttered

“I'm kidding.. Look I know it'll be weird, but it's just temporary” To be fair Clary sounded about as happy about the situation as Alec felt.

“Just when I think things can't get worse…” Alec muttered under his breath

He caught the look in Clary's eyes.  
“No not you..” He backtracked desperately “I just really need to pee..” He groaned

Clary frowned at him for a second before the tension just got too much and she burst into laughter.

  
………

  
Jace sat awkwardly on the sofa, for someone who was so sure of himself it was unsettling to say the least to feel so lost. On the bright side at least feeling so unsure would make it easier to pretend to be Alec he thought to himself. It didn't cheer him up. He knew he had really screwed up this time.

Everyone had only gone a few minutes ago, Isabelle portalled to her room closely followed by Alec and Clary. That just left him, sat uncomfortably in the loft, while the three warlock's tried to undo the spell. He felt exhausted and essentially totally useless.

Jace’s thoughts were disturbed by feeling someone sit down next to him on the sofa. He had been sitting with his head in his hands and he didn't even realise. He turned his head slightly to the side to see who had joined him.

“Are you OK?” Tessa spoke gently, a reassuring smile on her face.

For a second Jace felt like putting up a front, pretending to be fine but there was something about Tessa that made it OK to show weakness, to admit that no, he was very far away from OK. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was about the warlock but she just had this way about her that made him feel, well, safe. It was odd.

“Not really” he mumbled “I've really screwed up this time. I mean, Alec’s always telling me I should think more and then I go and do something like this. By the Angel, I just wanted to do something nice for Clary and Alec and I were getting on better than we had for months and of course I had to go and ruin it.”

The words had just come spilling out. There were very few people that he could be that honest with, usually he covered everything up with mock confidence, but he was tired and fed up.

Tessa chuckled softly making Jace look up at her again to be greeted with the fond expression on her face.

“I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just you sound so like Will”

Tessa rested her hand gently on Jace's shoulder before continuing.

“Honestly, you think this is bad, you should ask Jem about some of the things Will put him through..”

  
Jace felt himself relax a little. He had struggled since his return with working out who he was, something he hadn't admitted to Alec or, well, to himself really. It was hard when all you had of your real family was a box of old love letters. He'd always kidded himself that it didn't really matter, that family was meaningless but maybe, well no definitely, it did matter. It mattered to him. The fact that he reminded Tessa of Will was, well, nice. He reminded her of his great, great, great grandfather. The thought felt weird but with it came another feeling, like he belonged, something he hadn't felt before.

“Sooo I can claim it’s genetics right… Not my fault” Jace grinned

“You can try” Tessa was laughing now “let's test the theory…one word…ducks”

Jace shuddered despite himself. For some reason ducks had always freaked him out.

Tessa erupted into peals of laughter.

“Now that is genetic..” She gasped “Will was terrified of ducks…you definitely get that from him”

The pair of them were giggling together like schoolchildren. Jace, for the first time in a long while, felt like he belonged. Sitting there with his ancestor, laughing and joking, felt right, felt like home.

After a while he looked seriously at Tessa.

“D'you think Jem would mind, you know, talking about Will. You don't think it would upset him, or well you?”

He really, really wanted to know more but couldn't help feel it might be upsetting for the pair of them. Tessa and Will had been married for so many years and Jem had been his parabatai, they'd both loved him so much and had watched him die of old age. Jace couldn't imagine how tough that would have been on them.

Tessa stilled a little and looked at him gravely.

“Let me ask you something Jace. If it was the other way round would you want to talk about Alec, tell all the old stories?”

Jace pondered for a while. It was an uncomfortable thought, his life without Alec.

“I think…oh who'm I kidding. You wouldn't be able to shut me up…”

Tessa nodded, smiling.

“Exactly. Listen Jace if you ever want to talk just call.” Light flashed in her hand as she magicked up a card “here..take this, it's my number”

“Thanks…. I will”

Jace held the card in his hand like a precious gift.

“You should talk to Magnus too. He was great friends with Will..”

Jace shrugged noncommittally.

“I don't think Magnus likes me very much… Especially not at the moment…” He mumbled

Tessa sighed dramatically shaking her head

“Trouble is you two are far more alike than either of you would like to admit ….” She chided gently   
“well you never know, maybe this'll give you a chance to bond after all you are going to be roommates..” She added with a wink

Jace groaned inwardly

“Not funny..” He moaned

Tessa just grinned in response

“Ok, so that does sound like something I would say” Jace conceded

Tessa stood up and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze

“Now that you get from me” she chuckled.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next time.... Jace returns to the institute...
> 
> Any feedback would be gratefully received. I'm trying to keep this light but I suspect there will be a little bit of angst on the way as our parabatai walk in each other's shoes (literally) for a while.
> 
> Anything you wanna see just give me a shout and I'll see what I can do
> 
> All the love xox

**Author's Note:**

> Well who doesn't love a body swap.... Would love to hear what you guys think...


End file.
